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tv   [untitled]    March 19, 2013 4:00am-4:30am PDT

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but i'm not sure that's going to change the color and demographics of the population in county jail. they're out there on the street sometimes selling small amounts of drugs. until we address that problem and expand exponentially. jails will still be filled
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with poor people and people of color. you're not ending the war on drugs. we need to think of at holistic play as a public-health problem. not as a rush also the people who are selling and people are selling a rock to a police officer pretending to be an addict. all those people need help. >> i think that have given my all for the cause. i will leave it to george to put
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the capper on it. >> what is the sanction for opposing -- he is one of your members. >> he is and he is a valued member of the association. as an elected official, he is entitled to his own opinion. >> thank you. i have to say that, i want to think marty for coming here. he knew he was coming into this. i want to repeat. i am in the minority in the association. i think concerning this item, it
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is important for me and all of us to recognize there are ballot points of view. if we're serious about developing solutions that work for all of us, we have to entertain those points of view and tried to reach consensus. that is the only one that we will create a workable, sustainable solutions. all we're doing is spinning our wheels. my reason for being here is because i truly have come to the conclusion that it is not only based on years on the ground operationally but years of working on development of public policy, working with state governments and justice and lower in corp. -- incarceration and working with other people. a variety of settings.
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i do not believe that incarceration has taken us where we need to be. i believe the war on drugs has been a failure. when we institutionalize people over extended periods of time, we take low-level offenders in the early stages and harden them and we send them to the university of crime. by the time they get out of prison, they become a bigger social problem. where i come from, whether it is the [unintelligible] i am on the side of saying we need to reform our system and reduce the number of people we send to jail or prison. we need to reserve that space for people that are truly dangerous and have no way of fixing themselves. we have to realize there will be some people that will go to prison because the rest of us need to have some people in
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prison in order for us to be safe but that is a small minority. there are many other solutions out there whether it is someone who has engaged in drugs or has a drug addiction. or engaging in some other low- level crime. every move away from a cursory those people in the early stages and deal with different forms of behavior modification, we're not only going to be a safer society but we are a more just society and we will spend more money in parks and schools and many others. [applause] >> i will give you the final word. >> i thought a person who was most provoking was marty. but it was [inaudible] i wanted to finish with this. i wanted to bring it back to
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what i think are three key ethical -- the first one is this. i do not think that there is any legitimate basis in science, medicine, or any ethical code that i know of or the bible, for that matter for our criminal law tdistinguishing between those wo have alcohol and tobacco and people who put other substances in their body. there is no legitimate basis for distinguishing between the alcoholic on the one hand under criminal law and between the drug addict on the other. that is first. the second ethical point is i hope most of you agree with this. i do not believe that anybody should be punished simply for what we put into our own bodies
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absent harm to others. nobody deserves to be punished for what we put in our bodies absent harm to others. hurt somebody, yes and not tell me your addiction was the excuse. we need to be regarded as sovereign over our minds and bodies. the criminal law should not be treating anyone as a criminal for what we put in here. when one is trying to pursue a particular public health or public safety objective, reducing the harm of drugs or whatever it might be. and when you have powerful evidence that a non-course of system can accomplish that public safety health objective as well or better than a course of system, when the portugal- like object of can accomplish that for better or lower cost, it is a matter of good public policy and a matter of ethics and morality.
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those three key moral points are fundamental in the state in this country. thank you. >> in closing the program, i want to thank all of you for coming to the 2012 justice summit. one thing that has distinguished our work in what we have done at these summits is action. if you look at over the past nine years, we have the evidence to prove that. out of our first summit came the call to have a community based collaboration that helped use and families work together on a community-based level.
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we have developed the programs for growth in our communities. out of the second summit came a call for better coordination of services and from that sprung the re-entry council. the official policy body. what we're looking to achieve this year is to make strides going forward particularly in the area of violence reduction and gangs. we have heard about the strategies today. we have seen the promise of law enforcement being able to work together with community-based organizations dedicated to violence reduction. this is possible but only of you all get involved. so for those of you that are here and watching at home, get involved and pick up the phone. you can go to our website to keep up with developments, sfpublicdefenderorg. we are creating initiatives
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around gangs and violence reduction. and applying brain science to the law, and advocating for reform. this is a banner year for criminal-justice. we have the three strikes initiative. we limit it to only serious offenses. also, the ballot measure, the state measure which will eliminate the penalty. thank you, all of you for coming and for all the volunteers that made this possible. i want to thank the san francisco public library, every year they have provided us with a venue to do this event and also for sfgovtv for putting us on the tube. we will see you again.
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keep in touch. thank you. [applause] good afternoon and thank you for coming. i'm delighted to announce that our first effort is unleashed upon the world. [ applause ] . it's only been two-and-a-half years since the moment of conception of this idea. it's an amazing tribute to our
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community. it reached three levels of impossibility, of getting a permit and designing it and putting it on this structure and the impossibility of getting it funded. it really is a tribute to so many and a lot of faces that i'm looking at this room tonight. it comes down to as always people. i'm going through a few moments here to give a real thanks to people who made this night and the next two years possible. i'm going to list a couple of company names, but i want to think of them as members of our community that made this project possible. that included, bloomberg, guchie, it includes the partners,
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magazine, california home and design, magazine, aluminum illuminary sponsors and the folks tonight. and, you know that first level of impossibility. i'm going to list some agency names. it comes down to a lot of people in this room to make it possible. my first phone call in this project was to cal trans. in cal trans working together with the bay area with the mayor's office here in the county of san francisco and coast guard, official wild life, all of these came together to find a way when
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typically the system is designed to say no, people found a way to say yes to this project. the arts commission, this collusion support from the san franciscmuseum of modern art. i apologize for the folks i will be missing because this is a cast of a thousand that made this happen. we certainly love our lawyers in this process. morrison who helped it become a very established and professional way in getting the contract involved in getting this project to an amazing legal footing. the technology network in san jose who made this a crucial project. i want to call out a thanks to or
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tactical team. we know how to make it small, not over 150 feet in the air. we have a studio, zone engineering and i have to say thanks to hmr who has been a rock star and directly one of the reasons this is happening. an extremely talented project. thank you all. i also want to just take a moment to really acknowledge that while leo and i have done a lot of things m in this world, we would not be able to do it alone. there is only one person responsible for this project and that is executive director of the arts.
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luminarias. i can go on and on. i think i will throughout the night. do know that she's a special person and this entire community owes her a debt of gratitude. i want to thank leo and his family for bringing the level of artistic integrity for this work that somehow slipped through the progress of a work of contemporary art parallel in art history. it has everything to do with leo and our interpretations with our discussion and that one minute that transformed how people will be receiving this project
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and how i can make this happen and lieutenant governor will join us at the ceremony at the bay light.org. i really want to thank our mayor who is a visionary in his own right and common good and who i had the pleasure of working with other projects and he's making this city better every single day. people should know that mayor embraced this team, this project ma way that had nothing to do with really -- even, it was a matter of passion, a personal desire to see the work of art radiant and shine in our community it was an amazing gift. mayor lee, we owe you a great debt of gratitude. thank
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you so much. [ applause ] >> thank you. welcome everybody to the building in san francisco. gosh, your vision, i have been living with this vision for almost two years now ever since our city engineer said, come with me to this event and you are going to be surprised how we can turn infrastructure to a piece of art. i have worked with so many projects with roads and buildings that we oftentimes cannot lift this heavy piece of metal or holes in the ground an construction and not be able to see the work of art that contributes to this city and future. amy, thank you for your
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incredible leadership on this. i met you first at this event here but was immediately sold on the possibility that we can unleash art in the most creative way. this is in fact a beacon for our arts community, for a world class city and it has the ability to attract some $50 million of contributions to our economic vitality a huge base of fans that will visit our city. there is going to be 150 million visitors, i think it's going to be $97 million contribution to our committee already scaled by our travel association. so part of it is economics, but i actual, without even having those numbers in front of me knew
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that this was going to excite us. i actually know that when we unveil this tonight, the feeling that i'm going to be having, is we just won another world series because it's going to bring that kind of excitement into city. and to have this timed in a way in which we have just finished the 75th anniversary of the celebration of the bay bridge, we have opened the auditorium and on our bay for the first time we have just finished the world series and the 55 sealing on our bay is a celebration for san francisco and this incredible rebounds that this city is experiencing can really only be complimented by the arts, because allows the arts to celebrate all the other things that we are trying to do
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economically to be covered, i think is an incredible cap on our future on what we can experience and exemplify to the rest of the world. this leaves me to an appreciation to the artist that he has not only visualized what 25,000 led lights can do but discovered a fashion in which will not see the same pattern at any time experience. this is kind that have innovation that we are experiencing in san francisco that creativeness, that we've always wanted to have from our arts community to us with all the other things that we are doing in struggling everyday and sometimes there are good stories but art has always been
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an inspiration to me. you can imagine anything you want in these lights. the artist will say that leo has always said it and documented in so many other interviews to give yourself a chance to work with these 25,000 light is. to me it's the mustache. it will be for every child in us, the ability to celebrate, to see what's good and what we have done here, but i think it will be the beacon for world class to happen here in san francisco. i look forward to -- we talked about this being a 2-year commitment. but we all know with the success this has, we are already and i will predict that people, including myself will want this to be on going certainly during my lifetime.
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[ applause ] >> so i have every expectation we'll about be right there hand in hand celebrating with you to create even more art in the city. by the way, it's budget time, so tom in the art commission, you have done very well with the opening of this timing with everybody else that we have the proper level of art to be creative, to bless us with all the things that are so positive and to exemplify the arts community for what it's done. with that, i would like to introduce our artist leo villa real. >> thank you so much. i'm beyond thrilled to be here today. this has been an incredible 2-and-a-half years from the initial idea when ben
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davis asked me to consider the bridge and how it can be turned into a canvas and having thought about it and created an assimilation on the computer, animation that so many people saw and were inspired to get behind and enabled to happen. so many people to thank, but certainly folks at cal trans and mayor's office, governors office. there were so many hoops we had to jump through. getting the permit was one of the miracles. i thank you for believing in public art and helping us get this done. amy has been amazing, our executive art director. [ applause ] amy was able to shepherd this
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impossible project through all the intricacies, i'm in incredibly grateful for her help, grateful for his efforts in another monumental task. he's raised $6 million of our $8 million. this project is an incredible gift by our pat patrons through the city. this is an incredible piece. you don't have to buy a ticket. it's there and available. a very universal quality, it has some response to it. it's operating on a very primal level. i think we the technical
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team that put this piece up has been remarkable. zad and zoon has been a lifesaver. incredible individual who has never said no to me. everything is always been possible and bringing the team together to actually install this work. to make a photo shop simulation and 3d animation project. it was in incredibly inspiring. i went out there on a cloudy day and it was incredible magic that was happening. i knew this was going to be fine if i can channel the interaction of all these systems into my work. so
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i'm very grateful for everyone who helps install this piece. we had lane closures. everything happened from 5 a.m. there were hundreds of thousands of cars and the contractors installing this 550 feet over the water. incredibly challenging work but here we are. i would like to thank my team and studio, everyone helping, our lead programmer, transit for helping with all our networking, there is a lot of behind-the-scenes of help that nobody will know about, we have computers, wireless connections, i want to thank timothy child's who helps us
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invent this custom clip which we used to hang these lights on the bridge. there was a lot of behind-the-scenes that's it's taken to bring this work to a reality. i guess our patrons are also, that's a whole other -- unleashing generosity in the way that we have just really bologna way blown -- away. incredible innovation at work and thankful to phillips for their equipment and standing behind they are technology and helping us achieve what we have done i guess we are here and ready to punch the button on the computer. we are using a
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laptop tonight and it's going to go on at 9:00. i'm just incredibly grateful and keep pinching myself that this is happening. i'm incredibly overwhelmed that this is happening and i'm eager to share this work with all of you. thank you.